Free: Manage LaunchPad On Your Mac

What? LaunchPad is on the Mac, too? LaunchPad is the screen of apps on the iPhone and iPad. Tap an app icon and the app launches.

Apple brought LaunchPad from iOS to Mac OS X a few years ago and it works much the same way. Except it’s a pain to manage. The Mac’s screen contains far more app icons than iPhone or iPad. How do you manage the Mac’s LaunchPad?

LaunchPad Manager. Duh.

It’s obvious that Apple wanted to bring some of the simplicity of app management to OS X, hence the Mac app Launchpad.

While it works about the same way, there are plenty of hidden tricks that LaunchPad Manager brings to the table.

For example, use LaunchPad Manager to delete any icons from LaunchPad. This feature works differently than deleting an app icon on iPhone or iPad which also deletes the app.

LaunchPad Manager on the Mac only deletes the icon, not the app itself. You can also rename icons and groups, and the Quick Select buttons help to re-arrange app icons with a click.

Another handy function is cut and paste. That’s right. You can grab app icons and use cut, then move to a LaunchPad page and paste them in without having to drag them all around.

Here’s a look at a LaunchPad screen.

Yes, you can still reorder apps on LaunchPad the old fashioned way– drag and drop. LaunchPad also lets you save a specific LaunchPad layout.

The Pro version also makes it easier to create and organize app Groups, and displays an option to add missing app icons to LaunchPad if they’ve been deleted. The Pro version also has an option or organize apps in alphabetical order, and provides an easier way to create an empty LaunchPad page and move selected app icons to the page.

Free or otherwise, is LaunchPad Manager a useful app? Probably so, but only if you actually use LaunchPad as your app launcher. Otherwise, why bother? I like LaunchPad, but Jack does not.

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About Carol Miller

I teach English in Paris, France. My husband works for a US company here. He switched from PCs to the Mac over 20 years ago. I told him it would improve our marriage, give us more friends, and reduce stress. It gave us two out of three. Read more of my articles here.